Naughty or Nice

Naughty or Nice features a great cast, entertaining story, and the typical charms that are often evident in Hallmark's excellent Holiday offerings.

I especially thought the casting in this one was terrific. I was not familiar with Hilarie Burton's previous work, but she won me over as Krissy Kringle, the oft-put upon main character who accidentally receives Santa's magical "Naughty or Nice" log book in the mail. She uses the book's mystical spying technology to her advantage, finding out what "nice" or "naughty" shenanigans her uppity neighbor (True Blood/Grimm's Jessica Tuck) and her fiancé (Kyle XY's Matt Dallas) as well as other random people in her life are up to. This leads her (as well as her wacky co-worker confidant) into several sticky, and typically hilarious, situations. This is a cute, fun movie that kept me interested for the entire running time. Highly recommended!

Another casting tidbit: The parents from 80s sitcom Family Ties - Michael Gross and Meredith Baxter - co-star as Krissy's parents. Fun casting choices like this are what keep me coming back to Hallmark movies time and time again!

Even though I judge TV movies on a more lenient scale than theatrical movies, I don't know how IMDb gets a weighted average of only 5.9 for this when the arithmetic mean = 7.8, and the median = 8 (after 88 viewer votes). Whatever! This was my most-anticipated, and the best Christmas movie I expect to see, this season.

Why was this my most-anticipated movie of the season? Simply because it stars one of my favorite actors, Hilarie Burton (okay, I'll admit it: I think she's hot — she's not only a good actor and nice to look at, but she also has attitude, self-confidence, and a sparkle in her eye), as Krissy Kringle (of Candy Cane Lane, no less…don't worry, it's explained in the movie). And, no, she's not Santa's daughter, as one might expect, if you've watched as many of these Christmas movies as I have.

In all my reviews, I have never given the producers due credit, but in my honest opinion, they deserve it here.

1. They got Rickie Castaneda, who gained experience writing three of last year's Christmas movies (two sixes and a seven on a scale of ten, in my opinion) to write a relatively non-formulaic, more-clever-than-usual script, both in structure and lines.

2. They hired Lindsay Chag as casting director, whose list of credits is longer than your arm, and who assembled a wide cast of well-known actors, including for supporting roles; and in a special case of inspiration, got "Alex Keaton's" parents from TV's "Family Ties" to play Krissy's here.

3. Finally, they had David Mackay, a veteran of mostly theatrical films, direct. The result is pitch-perfect performances, with nary a hint of overplay.

In short, even though I haven't yet seen all of this year's offerings, this is the one I recommend.

Krissy Kringle is having an awful Christmas season. She is cursed with a stupid name; she has just been fired from her job and has had to take a job as an elf in a gift-wrapping department; she lives on Candy Cane Lane and gets all of Santa Claus' mail; and worst of all, she has been mailed Santa's naughty or nice list and discovered that her boyfriend has cheated on her in this well-written and executed Hallmark Channel TV movie.

Hilarie Burton plays Krissy and she does a very nice job with a well written role. She moves easily from comedy to small-scale tragedy as the power from the naughty list first improves her life and then makes the world collapse around her. I have only noticed Ms. Burton in an episode of "Castle" before this, but she certainly is pretty and knows how to give a performance. She is aided by a good cast, with Michael Gross and Meredith Baxter (the parents of the 1980s show "Family Ties") as her mother and father.

First off, let me say that I chose to watch this movie solely for Matt Dallas. I hadn't seen any of his performances since Kyle XY and I wasn't disappointed at all. He is a really good actor and I hope to get to see much more of him. Now, the movie, well its Christmasy, with magic in the air. It leaves you with big smiles and a light heart at the end.

It's all about seeing the nicer side of people and of yourself.

I really like all movie ventures by Hallmark. All actors have done a good job. But really, for me Matt was the highlight. He is a beautiful person and a good actor.

An entertaining, Christmas comedy drama involving a single professional woman who has a terrible day and mysteriously ends up with Santa's "Naughty or Nice" book. In this pleasant and somewhat different and balanced movie, Naughty or Nice is a worthwhile, if not classic addition to the Christmas Holiday movie genre.